Alaska Activities

Generally when I start planning a trip, I am flooded with so many great ideas about what to do that I end up exhausted in the planning process and trying to pack them all into too short a time period. Of course, being on the go and doing amazing things is great, but by the end of most of the trips I've planned, we end up forgoing the itinerary and sleeping a lot: It's just exhausting!

Alaska has been a different - and VERY welcome - experience on that front.

For the most part, it has been pretty simple to narrow down where we wanted to go for our adventure: Somewhere not quite so touristy, somewhere in the wilderness, but also somewhere that has decent accommodations for this 4-month pregnant mama-to-be, since, you know - without a decent night of sleep, the hormones might end up winning over and then the wildlife might be running away from me instead of the other way around lol

After posting and reading advice on multiple travel forums, we narrowed our cities down to 4 main cities (Homer, Seward, Denali and Anchorage) and one overnight city (Talkeetna) on our longest stretch from Seward to Denali.

So the next step is to find lodging (which we've done), restaurant recommendations (which we've done), and research/book some great activities for each city (which is what this post is all about)!

I finished booking all but the last activity last night, and I'm getting SOOOOOOOO excited about this trip being 18 days away!!

Homer - Deep Sea Fishing

We decided to start out in Homer mainly because the fishing charter coupons in our TourSaver book were going to expire by the 30th. In Homer the main expensive activity we'll be doing is going deep-sea halibut fishing for half a day. I booked a half day charter leaving at 1pm the 2nd day in Homer with Homer Ocean Charters. I would have liked to do a little salmon fishing as well, but Mark isn't a fan of salmon at ALL, so we figured halibut was a fair compromise :)

Homer Ocean Charters Website

Other activities we intend to do, but which don't need reservations include:

• Explore Halibut Cove
• Explore Homer Spit
• Explore Kachemak Bay State Park and State Wilderness Park
• Sea Kayaking

Seward - Kenai Fjords Cruise

My friend Mel lived in Seward for a year (and my friends Lisa and Steff both spent most of their Alaskan vacations in Seward), so Seward was an easy choice. What to do in Seward was as easy as asking everyone, "What should I do in Seward", and out came a slew of advice, but all of it centered around, "Take the 6 hour sightseeing cruise!!!"

So a few weeks ago I booked this cruise at 11:30am with Kenai Fjords Tours. The cruise includes a complimentary pass to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center since we booked online too, so I'm sure we'll want to check that out.

Other activities we intend to do, but which don't need reservations include:

• Alaska SeaLife Center
• Exit Glacier
• Hike Mt. Marathon
• Explore Resurrection Bay

Talkeetna - Flightseeing over Mt. McKinley

An overwhelming number of responses included a flightseeing tour over Mt. McKinley, so we added it to our list. Fortunately, there is a flightseeing tour that leaves right out of Talkeetna, which just so happens to be a town we're overnighting in. Plus, we have a BOGO deal through the Toursaver book for the flightseeing tour, so it was a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, when I called, we were no longer able to use the BOGO offer, as those seats were already full, so we won't be doing the flightseeing unless we want to pay full price, which would double the hefty cost to do so :(

Other than exploring the little town itself and finding some dinner there the night we stay there, there weren't any other activities we intended to do.

Denali - 11 hr bus tour / Dinner Theatre

The 11-hour Wonder Lake bus shuttle was a no-brainer in Denali. It came up in all the searches and was highly recommended by anyone who ever had been to Denali. I made the shuttle reservations just last night - WOOT!! :)

I also booked an evening at the 8:30 showing of the Alaska "Cabin Nite" Dinner Theater since we had 2 for 1 coupons in the Toursaver book, and it looked like good food and a fun show.

We're still contemplating doing an ATV tour, but Mark is disappointed they won't just let us take them and go crazy for a while lol

Anchorage - Playing it by ear

Anchorage is the one city we don't really have much of anything planned for as far as excursions or activities. Most of what we've heard has to do with dining recommendations or things that don't require reservations. Rather, we're talking things like renting a bike and taking the Coastal Trail or wandering through the town and doing a little shopping. We're still looking forward to it, but aren't making any reservations beyond lodging.